| Feb 11, 2015


Labbett aims to take the load off township.

Council is choosing to wait a bit longer to come to a conclusion on eliminating the amnesty load for 2015 and will reach out to the public over the next two weeks to get their opinion before making a decision.

Kyle Labbett, the Waste Management Supervisor, has been fighting to eliminate the amnesty load for a few years, suggesting that it puts too much stress on the landfills and can be difficult for attendants at the sites to manage. He says that when a site gets busy with these incoming loads the attendants are sometimes too occupied to thoroughly check the trailers coming in. Quite often the attendants are having to sort through the waste afterwards and pull items from the piles, or they’re burying things they shouldn’t be.

“There’s stuff that’s slipping through like e-waste, tires, etc.” Labbett said. “On a random weekend, 50 people would bring in an amnesty load and we wouldn’t be prepared for it.”

He also mentioned that “people are getting rid of things that aren’t garbage” just because of the amnesty load, suggesting that if there was a fee they might be more conscious of what they’re throwing out.

Councilor Tom Dewey put forth a motion to reach out to the public and see what their thoughts are. Council will be posting a report on their website with information on the amnesty load and is encouraging the public to participate in the conversation about the possible elimination of the free load.

Councilor Bill MacDonald said, “We need to have an in-depth discussion...no one knows what the ramifications will be if we have a closed landfill site in Central Frontenac...if we run out of space we’re going to be paying to truck our waste to somewhere else, and it may be Toronto.”

Mayor Smith said, “It’s a bigger article to get into that much depth.”

In 2014 there was a two-week window in the spring and a two-week window in the fall to take advantage of the amnesty load. Residents were allowed to bring one load per year, during either the spring or the fall window.

Winter roads too narrow

Kyle Labbett, who along with holding the post of Waste Management Supervisor, is also interim Public Works Co-ordinator, said that the roads department have been working hard to keep up with the snowfall. “Any roads we’ve received a complaint on we’ve prioritized and made sure we got in there first and got them done."

The township has been receiving the usual complaints regarding roads becoming too narrow and are focusing on winging them back. Councilor Dewey was frustrated that some of the roads up in Kennebec, for which plowing has been contracted out to a third party, are getting too narrow for two cars to pass and “then we have to send our [township] trucks out to plow the banks back. That to me is kind of a waste of money.”

Labbett explained that some of the smaller equipment has a hard time pushing the banks back far enough as the plows only extend past the tires a little bit and drivers risk being sucked into the ditch if they get too close to the edge.

Mayor Frances Smith said, “Maybe the moral to the story is that the contractors should have the right equipment to plow the road when it needs to be plowed and that’s something we maybe need to consider in future contracts...what piece of equipment will they be using to plow these roads?”

Councilor Jamie Riddell exopressed his appreciation to Labbett and the works department for a recent medical assist call, which the Mountain Grove fire hall responded to at 4:30am, in which they were able to quickly communicate with the roads department and have a specific road plowed and sanded within 5 minutes to help with their response time.

Some of the works department’s heavy machinery is now GPS-trackable as part of an insurance program with the Frank Cowan Company. The program will last three years and the equipment was given to the township for free.

Councilor Victor Heese inquired whether the GPS-data would be accessible by the public, specifically school bus drivers, who would be interested in knowing where the plow is. Labbett said “We don’t release that. We can go on and tell them that the plow is currently on Long Lake Road and is almost at Thompson Road and will probably be there in X [minutes].”

Councilor MacDonald stated “I think it’s a good move because it becomes a management tool...if there is an issue somewhere then the closest vehicle can respond.”

Council to investigate setting up police advisory committee

Inspector Derek Needham and Detachment Commander Karen Brown of the Frontenac O.P.P. Detachment, based in Hartington, presented information on policing in the township for the 4th quarter of last year. Both stressed that forming a Community Policing Advisory Committee (CPAC) would be beneficial to the council and citizens and would act as a conduit between the police and the community. This would help the council be more in tune with policing in the area.

Mayor Smith said, “I think it’s very important going forward that we have some communications.”

Inspector Needham also spoke about how the O.P.P. are working on programs in child education, internet safety and seniors fraud in Central Frontenac.

Councilor MacDonald expressed his frustrations that the O.P.P. hadn’t consulted with the township before policing in Central Frontenac was transferred from the Lanark to the Frontenac detachments, a change that took effect on February 1.

Inspector Needham reassured council that the same number of officers are still covering Central Frontenac and the change isn’t negatively affecting the service level in the township.

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